Favourite Printmaker : He Kun

I love printmaking. And out of the many the techniques, relief printmaking is my favourite. This is where a piece of lino or wood is carved, leaving the raised surfaces to be rolled with ink which is then transferred onto paper. The reduction method is where a print of several colours is produced from a single block. After a colour is printed the block is cut again and printed until all the colours have been done. Reduction prints cannot be reproduced after the first edition.

He Kun is a Chinese Printmaker who produces beautiful vibrant coloured woodcut prints. More of his work can be found at these websites: Art China, China Print, Chapel Row Gallery.

Monoprinting

For a perfectionist like me (probably the biggest hurdle I have to get over with my art), I love how printmaking removes you from your work. Rather than putting paint directly to paper, you do it through another process.

There are a few different monoprinting methods, here I used trace monoprinting.  This is where a thin layer of ink (but I used acrylic paint) is rolled onto a glass surface.  Paper is lightly placed over it and then drawn or marked onto the back with a pen or sharp object.  The ink from the plate transfers onto the front of the page.  The effect is a dark outline, with some areas where the ink lightly transfers adding depth to the image.

Oil based ink is the traditional medium for printmaking, and the results are cleaner with less smudging, but I am going to add paint to these prints and turn them into paintings.

Printmaking

During my time in art college, I was introduced to printmaking.  This process includes many different techniques, and I was lucky enough to be introduced to most of them.  My favourites were Linocut Reduction, and Zinc Plate Etching.

This was my attempt at zinc plate etching.  I love printmaking, and am in awe of artists who have mastered it.  I am going to put some serious time and effort into it (sometime in the future) when the chance arises.